Senior Solutions Architect – Digital Platforms

About the role

M-PESA Africa is seeking a senior individual contributor to design, govern, and evolve the architecture of its digital platforms and payment channels across six markets. The role sits at the intersection of the M-PESA Super App, mini‑app ecosystem, QR/NFC payment pages and partner integrations, setting standards and strategic direction for secure, scalable digital experiences.

Key responsibilities

• Own end‑to‑end architecture of the M-PESA Super App, its mini‑app platform, SDKs and marketplace ecosystem.
• Define and govern technical standards for mini‑app onboarding, integration, security review and lifecycle management.
• Architect digital payment channels (QR, hosted pages, NFC) and establish security, tokenisation and merchant integration standards.
• Design integration patterns between the Super App, core M‑PESA systems, third‑party developers and partner platforms, using event‑driven and API‑first approaches.
• Ensure platform performance, offline resilience and security architecture, including sandboxing, permission models and fraud prevention.
• Lead architecture review boards, mentor junior architects and produce executive‑level artefacts for CTO/CIO audiences.

Required profile

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related field.
• 8+ years of solutions/platform architecture experience, with at least 3 years in a senior or lead capacity.
• Proven track record designing enterprise‑scale Super App or digital payment platforms in fintech or telecommunications.
• Hands‑on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure or GCP) and mobile/web application architecture.

Required skills

• Super App and mini‑app architecture patterns, SDK design and versioning.
• Mobile platforms: native iOS and Android constraints.
• Cloud platforms: AWS, Azure, GCP.
• Integration patterns: REST, GraphQL, Apache Kafka, event streaming, API‑gateway, BFF.
• Digital platform patterns: micro‑frontends, composable UI, headless architecture, offline‑first design.
• Security: app sandboxing, permission models, mTLS, OAuth2/OpenID Connect.
• Digital payment channel standards: QR (EMVCo), hosted payment pages, NFC/HCE.